Pressure stopper for bottles and the like

ABSTRACT

Destined to bottles whose neck ( 1 ) is of the revolution type and has a smooth internal surface, being constituted as from a cylindrical bushing ( 2 ) of a soft material, like, for example, rubber, with an outside diameter less than the inside diameter of the bottle neck ( 1 ), linked with what should be its external end in a perimetric flange ( 3 ) for leaning over the mouth ( 4 ) of said bottle. Inside this bushing ( 1 ), there are two rigid parts, an external part ( 5 ) likewise finishing externally in a discoidal head ( 6 ) and an inside part ( 9 ), in turn finishing internally in a trunco-conical head ( 10 ), these parts provided with a threaded neck ( 8 ) and a threaded and complementary pin ( 12 ), which permits the axial level of both parts as a whole to vary, by means of rotation in one or other direction of the discoidal head and externally ( 6 ), such that in the axial contraction of said rigid parts, the trunco-conical head ( 10 ) radially deforms the lower end of the bushing ( 2 ) against the inside surface of the bottle neck ( 1 ) causing an airtight and stable closure.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention refers to a stopper, specially designed forbottles of the type providing sufficient air tightness in the closure bymeans of radial pressure of the stopper itself over the bottle neck, butmay likewise be applied to any container requiring a similar closingsystem.

[0002] The object of the invention is to obtain a stopper of very easyplacement in the bottle neck or container, assuring an airtight closurewhich also permits easy opening and a stopper that may be continuouslyused.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In the field of bottles and other similar containers, basicallytwo closing systems have been developed; one in which the bottle andstopper are provided with complementary means of threading or others ofaxial fastening which in turn, permit the axial deformation of adiscoidal or annular component, acting as a seal between the stopperbody and the container mouth and another, in which the container lackscoupling and axial retention means for the stopper, so that the latteris kept stable in a closed position by radial and internal pressure overthe bottle neck.

[0004] Stoppers normally used in wine, champagne, etc. bottling belongto this type, in which the stopper is a cork cylinder, convenientlyoversized with respect to the inside diameter of the bottle neck,requiring a special machine for its insertion in the latter. Saidmachine has a trunco-conical nozzle which converges in a downwardsdirection, forcing the stopper, on being axially pressed by its piston,on suffering a significant radial contraction, possible due to itsmaterial nature, so that once the stopper passes said nozzle and reachesthe bottle neck, it elastically recovers exerting a high pressure oversaid neck, assuring the stability and tightness of the closure.

[0005] Independently from the difficulty involved in this type ofstopper, totally impossible from the manual point of view, assuringoptimum closure conditions, the removal manoeuvre thereof is alsocomplex, requiring the use of corkscrews which on many occasions duringthe opening process break the stopper. To this drawback, we should addthat when the degree of stopper deformation is significant duringinsertion, its expansion after first removal is so large, that it isimpossible to manually close the bottle again with the same stopper, inthe normal case of not having consumed all the contents of the bottle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The pressure stopper proposed by the invention satisfactorilysolves the aforementioned problem, it being possible to use it in thefirst bottling process or as an auxiliary stopper replacing theclassical original one, when for the reasons already indicated, thelatter cannot be reused for such a purpose.

[0007] More specifically, the stopper being disclosed consists of thefunctional combination of three parts, one of soft material, like, forexample, rubber, shaped as a cylindrical bushing, fitted incorrespondence with what should be its upper end of a perimetric flange,acting as a limiting stop for penetration over the bottle mouth, theoutside diameter of said bushing being equal or less than the insidediameter of the bottle neck, collaborating with this part of softmaterial, two parts of rigid material which in their combination definea telescopic shaft finishing the outside part in a discoidal head toactivate said part, while the other is finished inside a trunco-conicalhead, diverging towards its interior and free end, with a maximumdiameter closed to that of the inside diameter of the bottle neck, sothat in the situation of a maximum distance between the discoidal headand the trunco-conical head, the assembly may be easily placed insidethe bottle or container being considered, until the limit situation inwhich the flange of the soft part acts as a stop over the bottle mouth,since the bushing to which said flange is linked maintains its originalcylindrical configuration, whilst when its acts over the rigid parts,according to the axial contraction thereof, the trunco-conical headprovokes a radial and elastic deformation of the soft bushing generatinga high pressure of said bushing over the internal surface of the bottleneck and assuring both an airtight closure and a perfect stability forthe stopper as a whole.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] To complete the description being made and to permit a betterunderstanding of the features of the invention according to a preferredexample of embodiment thereof, said description is accompanied by a setof drawings in which the following is shown with an illustrative andnon-limiting nature:

[0009]FIG. 1 shows a side elevation exploded view and sectional view ofthe components integrating the pressure stopper constituting the objectof the present invention, in which the neck of a bottle specificallydestined to receive said stopper is also shown.

[0010]FIG. 2 shows, according to a side elevation view, and in diametricsection, the same assembly as above, duly assembled, according toanother embodiment in which the plug component of the threaded couplingis linked to the trunco-conical head, instead of the discoidal andexternal head, as in the case above.

[0011]FIG. 3 finally shows, according to similar representations to thatof the previous figure, the different process sequences of introducingthe stopper in the bottle neck.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0012] In the light of the above figures, it may be observed that thestopper being considered is destined to bottles or other types ofcontainer having a revolution neck (1) and is shaped as a cylindricalbushing (2) of a soft material of appropriate length, at its upper endfinished in a flange or outside perimetric ring (3), destined to leanover the mouth (4) of said bottle neck (1), with the double purpose ofacting as a limiting stop for penetration of said bushing (2) and inturn as an airtight closure area, as will be seen later, collaboratingwith said bushing (2) a pair of parts of a rigid material, like forexample, plastic, specifically an outside part (5) in turn externallyfinished in a discoidal head (6), whose diameter should at leastcoincide with that of the soft bushing (2) flange (3), said rigid part(5) being provided with an axial and threaded pin (7) as shown in FIG. 1or with a hollow neck (8), internally threaded, as shown by theembodiment in FIG. 2, anyway being completed with the other rigid part(9), at its lower or internal end also provided with a trunco-conicalhead (10), evidently diverging towards its free end, and with aninternal and axially threaded neck (11), when the part (5) has thethreaded pin (7) of FIG. 1 or a threaded pin (12) when the part (5) hasan internally threaded neck (8) as in the case of FIG. 2.

[0013] Anyway, the complementary threads (7-11) or (8-12) permit theaxial and telescopic shifting of a rigid part (5) with respect to theother (9) and also in any case the maximum diameter of thetrunco-conical head (10) of the rigid part (9) will be suitable forintroducing it through the bottle neck (2).

[0014] According to this arrangement, the manoeuvre to incorporate thestopper in the bottle is as follows:

[0015] According to the first sequence of FIG. 3, we start from asituation of maximum distance between the rigid parts (5) and (9),meaning that the trunco-conical head (10) is totally located beyond thebushing (2) maintaining it in its original cylindrical configuration.

[0016] As from this situation, and as shown by the second sequence ofFIG. 3, the stopper is totally inserted in the bottle neck (1) notrequiring excessive force.

[0017] Then, an initial small adjustment pull is made over the discoidalhead (6) of the rigid part (5), so that with its raising movement thelatter drags the rigid part (9) whose trunco-conical head (10) provokesa radial and complementary deformation of the lower end of the softbushing (2), which is adapted to the anatomy of the bottle neck (1) asshown in the third sequence of FIG. 3, the discoidal head (6) remainingsignificantly distanced from the flange (3) of the soft part (2).

[0018] Then, and according to the fourth sequence of FIG. 3, thediscoidal head (5) is rotated so that it progressively approaches theflange (3) as its threading is produced over the internal rigid part(9), which is kept stable by the friction coefficient establishedbetween its own trunco-conical head (10) and the soft cylindricalbushing (2).

[0019] In a limit approach situation of the discoidal head (6) to theflange (3), a final tightening is carried out which, as observed in thefifth and last sequence of FIG. 3, produces the definite deformation ofthe lower end of the bushing (2), assuring a totally airtight closureover the bottle neck (1) wall and over the trunco-conical head (10), inturn producing an axial pressure of the discoidal head (6) over theflange (3), also deforming the latter in this direction, enhancing thetightness of the stopper as a whole.

[0020] Evidently, a manoeuvre in the opposite direction permits an easyuncoupling of the stopper which may be indefinitely reused.

1.- A pressure stopper for bottles and similar containers, provided witha revolution neck of internal and smooth surface, characterised by beingconstituted by means of the functional combination of three parts, onepart (2) of soft material, configuring a cylindrical bushing with anexternal diameter according to the internal diameter of the bottle neck(1), a bushing which finishes in what should be the external or upperend of a flange (3), radially emerging outwards and destined to leanover the bottle mouth (4), collaborating with this soft part (2), a pairof parts (5) and (9) of rigid material, like, for example, plastic,coaxially intercoupled and with relative adjustable positioning, theexternal part (5) finishing at its end, also external, in a discoidalhead (6), for leaning over the flange (3) of the soft part (2), whilethe inside part (9) of rigid material in turn finishes in atrunco-conical head (10), diverging towards its free end and with amaximum diameter suitable to permit its passage through the bottle neck(1), having foreseen that in the situation of maximum extension for theassembly consisting of the two rigid parts (5) and (6), thetrunco-conical head (10) does not affect the cylindrical bushing (2) ofthe soft material part, while the axial contraction of the assemblyconsisting of said rigid parts provokes a radial deformation of thelower area of said bushing (2) against the internal wall of the bottleneck (1) and an axial deformation of the flange (3) against the front(4) of said bottle mouth: 2.- A pressure stopper for bottles and similarcontainers according to claim 1, characterised in that the two rigidparts (4) and (5) are telescopically related to each other, with thepossibility of varying the axial level of both parts as a whole by meansa thread coupling (7-11), (8-12). 3.- A pressure stopper for bottles andsimilar containers according to the previous claims, characterised inthat the rigid external part (5) is provided with a threaded pin (7)whilst the rigid internal part (9) is provided with an internallythreaded neck (11) receiving said pin (7). 4.- A pressure stopper forbottles and similar containers, according to claims 1 and 2,characterised in that the rigid external part (5) is provided with aninternally threaded neck (8) whilst the rigid internal part (9) isprovided with a threaded pin (12) corresponding with said neck (8).